THE NEW YORKER 47 it's the knives in the strippers," he said. ('See how I backed this knife up on this clipper here? Now, you see this wire we're cutting is rubber-insulated, real hard, and I think that's what makes the machine go bad. So I think now I'll move the knives in a little and then they'll cut deep and hold, don't you think? Don't you think that would work?" I said yes, I thought it would, and then I remarked that I wasn't a mechanic. "But it looks right to you, doesn't it?" he asked rather anxiously. I said yes, and he seemed pleased. Rogers, Nippins, Jackson, and I left Eddie at the machine and Cibell mut- tering that he was going to steal one of those strippers from another shop unless his was fixed pretty soon. We started back for the maintenance room. Rogers and Jackson led the way, and Nippins and I followed, all of us walking along at a moderate pace. "Eddie is a good mechanic," Nippins said to me, "and a fine man with cams." He bounded sud- denly, said, "Oh, for God's sake! ," sped past Rogers and Jackson, with me at his heels, and maintained an extreme- ly brisk stride, head down, elbows bent, arms swinging, until we reached the maintenance room. This, I learned, was Nippins' usual way of getting around the plant; for a minute he had forgotten that he was in a hurry. ....,y.. ... X :...... . ..... :It''.,,:::;,. .,.... ':"':' :: :::: ",) ,,:::<: '::> . . :' ", "" ::,/i(: :: "'Yo ',\y 1' Iw , ,',', ," , j),;_ .át' .{$;: .: .: :> .::: . :" v: ::. :: .,':::' . ,':. "';. :. &f g" }.:.....-..:....' TATER on, Jackson and I ate dinner L in the plant cafeteria, and b} the time we returned to the maintenance room the night gang was working. The new crew of maintenance machinists were Jim Barron, Tony Scarangella, and Whitey Dorner. Jackson turned me over to Barron and went home. Barron made the introductions. Three other men were assIgned to night duty in the maintenance room besides Bar- ron, Scarangella, and Dorner, but Jim said they were merely machinists' help- ers and anyway they weren't around at the moment. He told me I had missed something by not being there for the daily meeting of the day and night gangs. "A lot of griping and talk," he said. "The day crew think we're a bunch of loafers, and we don't think they're much good. They come on in the morning and say, 'Why didn't the night crew fix that?' We come on at night and ask, 'Why didn't the day gang take care of that?'" Jim said that Whitey Dorner was the head man of their crew, and above him was a Mr. Armstrong, and above him a Mr. Clark. "And above Clark there is another boss, I think," Jim went on, "and above him a shop superintendent, and above BROOKS BROTHERS 1 FLANNELS FOR SPRING Now, in wartime, as in all the years of peace, no suit is more useful, more adaptable to almost every need, or better looking, than a "Flannel". Brooks Brothers' ready-made stocks today, as always, are especially strong in these fine materials. They include specially imported English Flannels and careful selections of the better domestic grades. Plain colors, stripes, herringbones, diagonals. Brooks Brothers' Flannel Suits, $62 to $88 Sixth Floor Shop Flannel Suzts, $48 to $55 , ):)' I h l"", - Ii:' , . v' , :. r .;: " : . \ tarq. JIMO JIf&. OfFICERS' UNIFORMS, SUPPLIES & ACCESSORIES NEWBURY CORNER BERKELEY STREET · BOSTON NUMBER ONE WALL STREET · NEW YORK MADISON AVENUE CORNER FORTY.FOURTH STREET. NEW YORk